Supplying and exhausting system in plasma polymerizing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A plasma polymerizing apparatus is provided which comprises at least one chamber in which sheet to be coated can be moved continuously, at least one gas inlet supplying reactive gas into the chamber, and at least one gas outlet exhausting the reactive gas out of the chamber, wherein the gas inlet and the gas outlet are disposed on the chamber in such a way that reactive gas flows in substantially parallel with moving direction of the sheet.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a supplying and exhaustingsystem for a plasma polymerizing apparatus and particularly, to asupplying and exhausting system for a plasma polymerizing apparatus inwhich gas is supplied and exhausted in the same direction of the flow ofa substrate coated by plasma polymerizing.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] If a surface of a substrate such as a steel plate is coated witha thin film using plasma, a stratum tectorium having good consistencyand abrasion resistance is formed. Products having the stratum tectoriumare used as a magnetic disk, optical disk, carbide tool and the like.Also, if the paint-coated film generated on the surface of a steel plateis undergone plasma processing, an unplasticized paint coated steelplate having good durability and corrosion resistance. Particularly,through the processing, quality of the surfaces can be improvedincreasing hydrophile and hydrophobe by polymer polymerizing the surfaceof the substrate, and the improved substances are widely in use.

[0003] As an example, FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an apparatuswhich can perform plasma polymerizing processing. Particularly, theapparatus is advantageous to coat thin film on a substrate with a greatarea. Also, an opposite electrode is positioned on the both sides of thesubstrate electrode and simultaneous polymerizing is possible thus toimprove productivity. In the apparatus, the substrate 2 wound as a formof a roll is continuously fed from the unwinding chamber to thepolymerizing chamber 1 and after polymerizing processing of the surfaceof the substrate in the polymerizing chamber, the substrate 3 is fed tothe winding chamber 10 then wound in the form of a roll. The reactivegas is supplied through the reactive gas inlet 7 to the chambermaintained a certain vacuum status and plasma is generated by allowingpower in the opposite electrode 4 on the upper and lower surface of thesubstrate. In case plasma discharge is generated in the chamber, thereactive gases in which molecular binding is broken and then the brokenchains and activated cations and anions are combined to form polymerizedmaterial. On one side of the chamber, outlet 8 of the reacted gas isinstalled.

[0004] For this continuous processing apparatus, in case the gas inletand gas outlet are installed in the polymerizing chamber,conventionally, the array relation is not specially considered and theyare positioned so that the gas flow is formed in the vertical directionwith the flow of the substrate in the polymerizing. Namely, in FIG. 1,the gas inlet 7 and outlet 8 are positioned at the left and right endsof the lower portion of the polymerizing chamber.

[0005] However, in positioning of the conventional gas inlet and outlet,there are disadvantages as follows. Firstly, gas flow in thepolymerizing chamber is formed in the vertical direction with the flowof the substrate and accordingly, the reactive gas and the substrate cannot react to each other sufficiently since the reactive gases stay for ashort time. Secondly, gas flow in the polymerizing chamber is not formeduniformly as a whole thereof sufficient polymerizing can not beperformed since the gas and substrate react in some area only. Due tothe problems, the surface characteristic of the polymerized substrate isnot uniform and defective products having desirable characteristicsincrease.

[0006] Also, in case of a continuous polymerizing apparatus,post-processing chamber can be additionally installed forpost-processing after the polymerizing processing. In this case, theexhaust port of the gas inlet should be installed in the respectivechambers. In case the gas inlet and exhaust port are installed, tocontrol each gas in inconvenient and the facility becomes morecomplicated thus to cause main problems. Therefore, a plasmapolymerizing apparatus is necessary to control gas supply and exhaustsimply and easily.

SUMMARY THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0007] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide aplasma polymerizing apparatus which increases the time reactive gasstays on the surface of the substrate and enables efficient use of thereactive gas in the polymerizing chamber.

[0008] Another object of the present invention is to provide a plasmapolymerizing apparatus with a simpler component to control gas supplyand exhaust smoothly.

[0009] To achieve the objects, the present invention provide a supplyingand exhausting system for a plasma polymerizing apparatus having apolymerizing chamber capable of moving a substrate continuously in whichgas inlet for supplying gas to a polymerizing chamber and a gas outletfor exhausting reactive gas supplied through the gas inlet and whereinthe gas inlet and outlet are installed so that the reactive gas flows insubstantially parallel with the moving direction of the substrate.

[0010] The polymerizing chamber includes a vertical chamber in which asubstrate moves horizontally and vertically.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011]FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a conventional plasmacontinuous processing apparatus.

[0012]FIG. 2a is a plan view showing a supplying and exhausting systemfor plasma polymerizing apparatus in accordance with the presentinvention.

[0013]FIG. 2b is a front sectional views showing a supplying andexhausting system of FIG. 2a.

[0014]FIG. 3a shows an embodiment of the supplying and exhausting systemin the vertical chamber.

[0015]FIG. 3b shows another embodiment of the supplying and exhaustingsystem in the vertical chamber.

[0016]FIG. 4a shows still another embodiment of the supplying andexhausting system in the vertical chamber.

[0017]FIG. 4b shows yet another embodiment of the supplying andexhausting system in the vertical chamber.

[0018]FIG. 5a shows the supplying and exhausting system, which includesadditional gas outlet channels.

[0019]FIG. 5b shows the supplying and exhausting system, which includesan additional junction unit for unifying the gas outlet channels.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] A supplying and exhausting system in accordance with the presentinvention is characterized that the plasma polymerizing apparatus whichcan move the substrate continuously has a polymerizing chamber in whichthe gas inlet and outlet are installed so that the reactive gas flows insubstantially parallel with the moving direction of the substrate.

[0021] The present invention can be applied to a case that the substratemoves in parallel as well as to a case of a vertical chamber (apolymerizing chamber in which the substrate moves vertically), whichwill be described.

[0022] As an embodiment of the present invention, the gas inlet ispositioned near the substrate inlet of the polymerizing chamber and thegas outlet is positioned near the substrate outlet of the polymerizingchamber. In addition, as another embodiment of the present invention,the gas inlet is positioned near the substrate outlet of thepolymerizing chamber and the gas outlet is positioned near the substrateinlet of the polymerizing chamber.

[0023] Also, the present invention provides a supplying and exhaustingsystem for a plasma polymerizing apparatus having a post-processingchamber and post-processing chamber which respectively have a gas inletand gas outlet and in the system, the gas outlet is positioned betweenthe two chambers.

[0024] In the system, the gas inlet is positioned in the same directionof the flow of the substrate at the entrance portion of the polymerizingchamber and the post-processing is positioned in the opposite directionof the flow of the substrate at the exit portion of the chamber. The gasflown from the gas outlet of the two chambers flows via an exhaust ductand a throttle valve and is sucked to a pump to be controlled as awhole.

[0025]FIG. 2a is a plan view showing an embodiment of the presentinvention. On the left, an unwinding chamber 9 for unwinding thesubstrate which is in the status of a roll to a form of sheet ispositioned and a polymerizing chamber la is fed from the unwindingchamber to perform plasma polymerizing processing. Beside thepolymerizing chamber, a post-processing chamber 1 b is installed and thesubstrate is continuously post-processed. Here, secondary plasmapolymerizing processing of the substrate or a processing for improvingthe quality of the substrate can be done. The substrate passed throughthe post-processing chamber is rewound to be a roll status in thewinding chamber 10 on the right. The polymerizing chamber 1 a andpost-processing chamber 1 b respectively have the gas inlets 11, 12 andgas outlets which are references numeral and formed on the wall of thechamber. In case of the polymerizing chamber, the gas inlet ispositioned at the entrance portion so that gas is supplied and exhaustedin the same direction of the flow of the substrate of the polymerizingchamber and the gas outlet is positioned at the exit portion of thepolymerizing chamber. On the other hand, in case of the post-processingchamber, the gas inlet 12 is positioned at the exit portion of thechamber so that the gas is supplied in the opposite direction of theflow of the substrate and the gas outlet is positioned at the entranceportion of the post-processing chamber. With the arrangement, the gas issupplied in the polymerizing chamber and post-processing chamber and thearrangement can control the supply of the two chambers as a whole. Thegas from the outlet is flown to the pump 15 through the throttle valve14.

[0026]FIG. 2b is a front sectional views showing a supplying andexhausting system of FIG. 2a. The gas supplied from the gas inlets ofthe polymerizing chamber 1 a and post-processing chamber 1 b reacts withthe substrate 2 which moves between electrodes 4 in the paralleldirection and is sucked to the exhaust duct 13 through the exhaust portwhich is not shown in the drawings.

[0027] The exhaust system controls the gas not to be agitated betweeneach chamber in case of continuous plasma polymerizing and gas in eachchamber can be controlled simultaneously with a pump. Accordingly, theequipment is simplified and the management is facilitated.

[0028] The apparatus described above is composed as a single body.However, for more efficient continuous plasma polymerizing, it isdesirable that the apparatus has a number of polymerizing chambers.Particularly, in case the plasma polymerizing apparatus includes apolymerizing chamber having an area in which the motion of the substrateflows vertically, supply and flowing direction and exhaust of the rawgas are very important to enable surface coating processing of goodquality.

[0029] As another embodiment of the present invention, a supplying andexhausting system which includes at least one polymerizing chamber inwhich the substrate is fed continuously and coated is provided. Also, inthe plasma polymerizing apparatus, at least a polymerizing chamber isinstalled in the vertical direction of the flow of the substrate and thesystem includes the gas inlet and outlet which are positioned so thatthe gas flows in parallel with the flowing direction of the substratepositioned in the polymerizing chamber.

[0030] In case the polymerizing chamber has an area which flows in thevertical direction of the flow of the substrate, to make the flowingdirection of the raw gas and the substrate in parallel, a specificcomposition is necessary to compose the supplying and exhausting systemfor a plasma polymerizing apparatus. Particularly, the gas inlet andoutlet are needed to be positioned properly considering the influence togravity.

[0031]FIG. 3a shows the polymerizing chamber, which has an area in whichthe substrate flows vertically. The substrate 2 flows from the lowerportion to the upper potion of the polymerizing chamber and the gasinlet 21 a for supplying raw gas, that is, reactive gas and unreactivegas is installed on one end surface of the upper portion of thepolymerizing chamber 1 c. The gas outlet portion 22 a for dischargingthe raw gas is installed on an end surface of the lower portion of thepolymerizing chamber. Namely, the raw gas discharged from the gas inletmoves in the opposite direction of the flow of the substrate in paralleland is discharged through the gas outlet. FIG. 3b shows a case that thesubstrate and the gas flow in the same direction by installing the gasinlet 21 b and gas outlet of FIG. 3a in the opposite direction. In thiscase, the characteristic of the raw gas flow on the surface of thesubstrate 2 is changed to be different from the characteristic in FIG.3a and accordingly, plasma polymerizing process according to thecharacteristic can be performed.

[0032]FIGS. 4a and 4 b are sectional view showing an embodiment in whichthe gas inlet and the gas outlet are installed on the both surfaces ofthe vertical-polymerizing chamber. In FIG. 4a, the gas inlet 22 c isinstalled on the both end surfaces of upper portion of the verticalchamber and the gas outlet 21 c is installed on the both end surfaces ofthe lower portion of the vertical chamber so that the substrate 2 andgas flow in the opposite direction. In FIG. 4b, the gas inlet 21 d isinstalled in the lower portion of the vertical chamber and the gasoutlet 22 d is installed in the upper portion of the vertical chamber sothat the substrate 2 and gas flow in the same direction. Therefore, theamount of the raw gas flow increases to become more than the amount ofthe raw gas supply and exhaust and more uniform by installingrespectively a gas inlet and a gas outlet thus to perform surfaceprocessing swiftly with a good quality.

[0033] Also, in the present invention as shown in FIG. 5a, the gasoutlet channel 23 connected to the gas outlet can be includedadditionally and as shown in FIG. 5b, a junction area 24 for unify atleast one gas outlet channel 23. By installing the gas outlet channel inthe gas outlet, the shape of the channel can be adjusted and theprocessing of the discharged gas can be facilitated. Particularly, incase the system includes a number of polymerizing chambers, thedischarged gas can be processed with the junction area as a whole. FIGS.5a and 5 b describe about the vertical chamber. However, the descriptioncan be applied to the polymerizing chamber identically.

[0034] The supplying and exhausting system in accordance with thepresent invention can achieve a uniform surface processing of goodquality and control the amount of the gas supply and exhaust easily byadjusting the gas flow in parallel with the flow of the substrate evenin case the plasma polymerizing apparatus having a number ofpolymerizing chambers has an area in which the substrate flowsvertically in the polymerizing chamber.

Industrial Applicability

[0035] As so far described, according to the present invention, the gasinlet and outlet is positioned so that the gas flows in substantiallyparallel with the moving direction of the substrate in the polymerizingchamber in which the motion of the substrate is performed in theparallel or vertical direction and accordingly, sufficient reaction iscapable due to the long time duration of contact of the substrate andthe reactive gas thus to achieve the substrate having a great effect ofpolymerizing process. In addition, the present invention can control thegas in the polymerizing chamber to be formed near the substrate andaccordingly the reactive gas can be used efficiently thus to reduce costto make the gas flow uniformly. Also, in the plasma polymerizingapparatus respectively having a polymerizing chamber and apost-processing chamber, the present invention provides a simplersupplying and exhausting system and accordingly, gas supply and exhaustcan be controlled smoothly so that the gas is agitated in between therespective chambers. In addition, space for installation can be reducedsince the gas in each chamber can be simultaneously controlled.

1. A supplying and exhausting system for a plasma polymerizing apparatusin which a substrate moves continuously comprises a gas inlet forsupplying gas to a polymerizing chamber, and a gas outlet for exhaustingreactive gas supplied through the gas inlet, wherein the gas inlet andoutlet are installed in such a way that the reactive gas flows insubstantially parallel with the moving direction of the substrate. 2.The system of claim 1, wherein the substrate moves horizontally in thepolymerizing chamber.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the gas inlet ispositioned near the substrate inlet of the polymerizing chamber and thegas outlet is positioned near the substrate outlet of the polymerizingchamber.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the gas inlet is positionednear the substrate outlet of the polymerizing chamber and the gas outletis positioned near the substrate inlet of the polymerizing chamber. 5.The system of claim 2, wherein an additional post-processing chamber isinstalled beside the polymerizing chamber and the polymerizing chamberand post-processing chamber respectively have a gas inlet and gasoutlet, wherein the gas outlet is positioned between the two chambers.6. The system of claim 5, wherein the gas inlet is positioned in thesame direction of the flow of the substrate at the entrance portion ofthe polymerizing chamber and the gas outlet is positioned in theopposite direction of the flow of the substrate at the exit portion ofthe post-processing chamber.
 7. The system of claim 5, having only onepump for a unified controlling the gas flown from the gas outlet of thepolymerizing chamber and the post-processing chamber.
 8. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the polymerizing chamber comprises a number of chambersand at least one of the chambers is installed in the vertical directionof the flow of the substrate in the polymerizing chamber.
 9. The systemof claim 8, wherein the gas inlet is positioned on an upper end surfaceor a lower end surface of the polymerizing chamber having an area whichflows in the vertical direction of the flow of the substrate and the gasoutlet is positioned on an end surface opposite to the gas inlet. 10.The system of claim 8, wherein the gas inlet is positioned on the bothupper end surfaces or the both lower end surfaces of the polymerizingchamber having an area which flows in the vertical direction of the flowof the substrate and the gas outlet is positioned on the both surfacesopposite to the gas inlet.
 11. The system of claim 10 having additionalgas outlet channels connected to the gas outlet.
 12. The system of claim11 having a junction unit for unifying the gas outlet channels.
 13. Asupplying and exhausting system for a plasma polymerizing apparatus inwhich a substrate moves continuously comprises a gas inlet for supplyinggas to a polymerizing chamber, and a gas outlet for exhausting reactivegas supplied through the gas inlet, wherein the substrate moveshorizontally in the polymerizing chamber and the gas inlet and outletare installed in such a way that the reactive gas flows in substantiallyparallel with the moving direction of the substrate.
 14. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the coated substrate moves in the parallel directionand the gas supplied to the polymerizing chamber flows in substantiallyparallel with the moving direction of the substrate.
 15. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the gas inlet is positioned near the inlet portion ofthe polymerizing chamber and the gas outlet is positioned near theoutlet portion of the substrate of the polymerizing chamber.
 16. Thesystem of claim 13, having an additional post-processing chamber andwherein the polymerizing chamber and the post-processing chamberrespectively have a gas inlet and gas outlet which is positioned betweenthe two chambers.
 17. The system of claim 14, wherein the gas inlet ispositioned in the entrance portion of the polymerizing chamber in thesame direction as the flow of the substrate and positioned in the exitportion of the post-processing chamber in the opposite direction to theflow of the substrate.
 18. The system of claim 17, having a pump forcontrolling the gas flown from the gas outlet of the polymerizingchamber and post-processing chamber and the post-processing chamber. 19.A supplying and exhausting system for a plasma polymerizing apparatus inwhich a substrate moves continuously comprises a gas inlet for supplyinggas to a polymerizing chamber, and a gas outlet for exhausting reactivegas supplied through the gas inlet, wherein the substrate moves in thevertical direction in the polymerizing chamber and the gas inlet andoutlet are installed in such a way that the reactive gas flows insubstantially parallel with the moving direction of the substrate. 20.The system of claim 19, wherein the gas inlet is positioned on an upperend surface or a lower end surface of the polymerizing chamber and thegas outlet is positioned on an end surface opposite to the gas inlet.21. The system of claim 19, wherein the gas inlet is positioned on theboth upper end surfaces or the both lower end surfaces of thepolymerizing chamber and the gas outlet is positioned on the bothsurfaces opposite to the gas inlet.
 22. The system of claim 19,additionally having the gas outlet channels connected to the gas outlet.23. The system of claim 22, having a junction unit for unifying the gasoutlet channels.